That these changes which I have mentioned, and others of a like character, would bring great relief to the consumers of the country, the whole people, I think, can not be doubted by any one who does not ignore the ordinary laws of trade. If the ways and means committee, or congress believes that some or all of the relief intended for consumers would be absorbed by trusts and combinations, by the thwarting of the laws of trade, these law-makers should be reminded that this is a poor excuse for their failure to remove burdensome and unjust taxes, that their proper function is to find a remedy for acts in restraint of trade, not to make fear of these wrongful acts the pretext for continuing oppressive burdens on the people.
If duties were reduced in strict accordance with the test relating to cost of production, using cost figures that now obtain, it would certainly be found that in the near future further reductions could be made in accordance with the same rule. This is so on account of the extent to which present costs in almost every industry in this country are increased by the tariff duties themselves, making materials and labor more expensive than they would otherwise be. Thus reductions in one industry will make reductions possible in other industries, until finally we may get down off from the unnatural level of prices caused by the extraordinary tariff rates which we have had for several decades. I believe that when we get down to natural conditions, we shall find that there are few industries that any longer need protection from the standpoint of actual inability to compete with foreign producers in this market.
I have spoken of results that might follow honest application of the test relating to comparative costs of production; but I regard this test as at best capable of only a very rough and imperfect application. Costs vary so much for different times and places, and the difficulty of getting real facts is so great, that this test, probably the best that can be offered in theory for "honest" protection, is wholly unsatisfactory to consumers and to the general public interest. This fact, with many others, leads me to reject entirely the system of protection, as a scheme which is incapable of honest application. Even if we should grant the essential economic arguments of the protectionist, the irresistible tendency of the system toward corruption of government, toward discriminating and excessive duties and monopoly, toward the encouragement of inefficient industry, would condemn it as one of the greatest forces for evil existing in our present civilization.
